THE HALF DECENT FOOTBALL MAGAZINE

WSC 310 out now

December issue available online and in stores

The new WSC is out now, available from all good newsagents or dispatched on the day of order from the WSC shop.

John Terry's two verdictsQuestionable sponsorshipsWhen wages aren't enoughFootball after the Second World WarBarcelona and Catalan independence

Under PressureThe Kick It Out T-shirt protest"That pesky Jason Roberts. Undermining football's anti-racism campaign by complaining about racism. The Reading striker's refusal to wear a T-shirt to mark the game's Kick It Out fortnight snowballed into another Big Controversial Talking Point when a number of other leading black players, and in some cases entire teams (Swansea and Wigan), also refused to wear the campaign's shirts last month. Rather predictably, a row about racism swiftly became about personalities and feuds, catching the Kick It Out campaign in the crossfire. Soon solemn discussions about handshakes and, after the allegations levelled at Mark Clattenburg following the Chelsea v Manchester United match, referees, took centre stage." Buy here to read the full article

Crawley Town 3 Bury 2Football League power shift"This season League One features an eclectic mix of clubs, ranging from the venerable – such as Notts County, who were founded 1862, and Preston North End, Double winners in 1889 – to the ultra-modern MK Dons, created in a quasi-legal laboratory in 2003 and Stevenage, promoted to the League in 2010. The first ever League meeting between Crawley Town and Bury is a fixture that epitomises the clash of the New South against the Old North. Crawley lured Bury's promotion-winning manager Richie Barker at the start of the season, an unthinkable move five years ago. The home side are lying in sixth position and chasing an unprecedented third consecutive promotion. With Bury bottom of the table this feels more like a scrap between a rising young heavyweight and a battered, fading middleweight than a clash of equals." Buy here to read the full article

Election campaign Dick Sloley and the Argonauts"The list of clubs that applied for election to the Football League is long and surprising. Just among the A's there are Abertillery Town (applied in 1921, now defunct), Annfield Plain (1947, now Wearside League) and Ashton United (also 1947, now Northern Premier League). Most intriguing is Argonauts FC. They applied to the Football League three times, in 1928, 1929 and 1930. The first time, they won 16 votes – just one place and 11 votes behind Merthyr Town, who were re-elected. Yet Argonauts never played a game and only existed on paper. They were, in effect, a figment of one man's imagination."Buy here to read the full article

Avoidance tacticsPassive-aggressive managers"Respect has gained weight as an abstract noun ever since a lack of it was diagnosed as the cause of most of society's problems. The idea, or at least the word, is casually lobbed into mission statements to give an instant moral legitimacy to any organisation. The FA's Respect campaign is aimed at making everyone respect everyone else: the codes of conduct ask that parents respect children, managers respect players, players respect referees and, presumably, referees respect themselves. Clearly football would be a lovelier thing if the act of fining people for not respecting each other resulted in the slow extinction of criticism, dissent and intimidation. A serene new landscape might evolve, whose inhabitants lived by the quaint old maxim: 'If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.'" Buy here to read the full article

PlusEngland Under-21s in SerbiaBaffling stars on club shirtsWoe for Wales and ScotlandExamining Jewish influenceBarnet's international starLiverpool stay at AnfieldSt Mirren's failed fan takeoverSchool's out at EvertonFA Cup action in HastingsWest Ham's record signing on the runFinland's only supporters' trustSt Pauli rebels get commercialReims return to French top flghtReviews of Thierry Henry: Lonely at the top; There's Only One Stevie Bacon; Agents, Rovers and Cricket Loving Owners and Roberto Mancini: The man behind Man City's greatest ever season

AvailabilityWSC is the only nationally available independent football magazine in the UK, and you can get it monthly for a very reasonable £3.25. You should be able to find a copy in your local newsagent, otherwise outlets that stock WSC include WH Smith, mainline train stations and the odd supermarket if you're lucky. If you're having trouble finding the magazine, you could do one of the following: